RetroRides Quick 60 and show

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Just got back from the Retro Rides event. Ben and Leigh flew the flag for us. Ben's 240Z went very well, sounded fantastic and got into the knockout stage. Leigh's car seemed to have an engine problem but I'm not well up on turbo sounds.
This event is quite a spectacle and the speeds of the top cars is amazing. Ollie Clark (Roger Clark's son - he of 70s rallying) won by 3s over a carbon tub Audi R8 lookalike. Ollie's Subaru (Toyota GT86 lookalike) has immense power and the biggest wing you could get on it. Mind you Ben's car has a big wing now.

Great day and people I spoke to loved to see Ben's 240 and the fact that it was the most historic car there. With the greatest respect the engine spec is so basic really amongst this company.
 

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Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
A Clio 172, but no ordinary Clio. Also a 280ZX in the picture.
 

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ben240z

Club Member
David and Goliath at Quick 60



It felt like the car was a dinosaur compared to the age and technology of the other cars at this event and even the commentator mentioned that the Datsun must be the most historic car there, having been racing for nearly 50 years, but it was an incredible event to be part of and I was using it as a test session for the new set up after the long rebuild

I had changed the pads for a different compound to see if they would pull up better on first application, and in a bid to get the car handling better on the new Bilstein shockers I had reduced the spring rates significantly so really had no idea on how the car was going to perform.

I still had the fuel pressure issue that has been baffling me for months.

The class consisted of

Bev Fawkes in the mighty Blue Thunder 500+bhp twin turbo scimitar

Ian Medcalf in his amazing Mighty Mouse spaceframed Fiat 500 powered by a swift tune 1300 mini engine with 140bhp

Richard Turnock in his space framed Skoda 110r with a flat 6 Porsche engine

I was running some old slicks that Bev Fawkes had given me as they were past their best and had given up trying to keep the Scimitar on the tarmac.



Practice runs in the morning showed that the Datsun was handling like a dream with a very neutral feel. I was also running the big rear wing that Janspeed ran in the 70s for the first time and had expected it to maybe introduce some understeer but thankfully the car turned in to the high speed corners as well as the slower ones.

By lunchtime I was a couple of seconds behind the Scimitar and a few hundredths ahead of the Fiat with the Skoda struggling as he only had his wet tyres (cut slicks).

The afternoon consisted of 2 runs with the aggregate time giving the class position and the top 60% of the class going through to the next round.

My first run was a good clean run with confidence building and a little more knowledge of the track. But the second run I had decided that rather than try taking the hairpin in 3rd I would drop to 2nd to get a bit more punch out of the corner. It worked well until I went to grab 3rd and got 5th instead. Cursing myself I found 4th and planted the throttle and then 5th while dropping down into devils elbow and pushed hard for the finish.

Convinced that this would be a slower time I was really surprised to find it was half a second quicker again which left me 1.5 seconds behind the Scimitar and just ahead of the fiat. It was enough to get me into the class final against the Scimitar.

The final run sadly was half a second slower again back to a 1 min 5 sec and I don’t really know why but with the best will in the world I was not going to win the class unless the Scimitar either fell off or broke something.

Having said that, the fuel pressure was rising so rapidly now during the run that whenever I was off throttle I was flicking the pumps off momentarily to allow the pressure to drop so maybe that could be my excuse 😊

It was really good to see some friendly faces come and say hi in the paddock and thanks for coming along. Hopefully you had a good day as well
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Are you going Rob? Do we need tickets to display?
Hi Dan, well I might go for a couple of hours 'early on' but I need to be in Chesterfield for a Grandaugher's birthday party. Yes I know..........
By the way Dan I only have my Honda CB750K to display anyway.

Ben, I have so much respect for you entering an event like this. But hey the spectators love a good Datsun! These cars have a huge reputation.
 
David and Goliath at Quick 60



It felt like the car was a dinosaur compared to the age and technology of the other cars at this event and even the commentator mentioned that the Datsun must be the most historic car there, having been racing for nearly 50 years, but it was an incredible event to be part of and I was using it as a test session for the new set up after the long rebuild

I had changed the pads for a different compound to see if they would pull up better on first application, and in a bid to get the car handling better on the new Bilstein shockers I had reduced the spring rates significantly so really had no idea on how the car was going to perform.

I still had the fuel pressure issue that has been baffling me for months.

The class consisted of

Bev Fawkes in the mighty Blue Thunder 500+bhp twin turbo scimitar

Ian Medcalf in his amazing Mighty Mouse spaceframed Fiat 500 powered by a swift tune 1300 mini engine with 140bhp

Richard Turnock in his space framed Skoda 110r with a flat 6 Porsche engine

I was running some old slicks that Bev Fawkes had given me as they were past their best and had given up trying to keep the Scimitar on the tarmac.



Practice runs in the morning showed that the Datsun was handling like a dream with a very neutral feel. I was also running the big rear wing that Janspeed ran in the 70s for the first time and had expected it to maybe introduce some understeer but thankfully the car turned in to the high speed corners as well as the slower ones.

By lunchtime I was a couple of seconds behind the Scimitar and a few hundredths ahead of the Fiat with the Skoda struggling as he only had his wet tyres (cut slicks).

The afternoon consisted of 2 runs with the aggregate time giving the class position and the top 60% of the class going through to the next round.

My first run was a good clean run with confidence building and a little more knowledge of the track. But the second run I had decided that rather than try taking the hairpin in 3rd I would drop to 2nd to get a bit more punch out of the corner. It worked well until I went to grab 3rd and got 5th instead. Cursing myself I found 4th and planted the throttle and then 5th while dropping down into devils elbow and pushed hard for the finish.

Convinced that this would be a slower time I was really surprised to find it was half a second quicker again which left me 1.5 seconds behind the Scimitar and just ahead of the fiat. It was enough to get me into the class final against the Scimitar.

The final run sadly was half a second slower again back to a 1 min 5 sec and I don’t really know why but with the best will in the world I was not going to win the class unless the Scimitar either fell off or broke something.

Having said that, the fuel pressure was rising so rapidly now during the run that whenever I was off throttle I was flicking the pumps off momentarily to allow the pressure to drop so maybe that could be my excuse 😊

It was really good to see some friendly faces come and say hi in the paddock and thanks for coming along. Hopefully you had a good day as well

Do you not run a pressure regulator?
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
Hi Dan, well I might go for a couple of hours 'early on' but I need to be in Chesterfield for a Grandaugher's birthday party. Yes I know..........
By the way Dan I only have my Honda CB750K to display anyway.

Ben, I have so much respect for you entering an event like this. But hey the spectators love a good Datsun! These cars have a huge reputation.
No problem Rob, drop me an email or text if you go. May well go early too. I’ll be taking the Porsche though I’m not sure I’ll get a ‘show space’ for it.
 

ben240z

Club Member
bugger. what's the max operating pressure? could it be your pumps are faulty?
No because the pressure regulator is what controls the pressure and should release at 4.2 bar. I have replaced the pumps anyway as well as the fuel lines, fuel tank, swirl pot, fuel lines again, pressure reg again and just for good measure the pressure regulator housing and regulator again.
 
No because the pressure regulator is what controls the pressure and should release at 4.2 bar. I have replaced the pumps anyway as well as the fuel lines, fuel tank, swirl pot, fuel lines again, pressure reg again and just for good measure the pressure regulator housing and regulator again.

I once had a pump that was faulty, basically it'd randomly go well over pressure and the regulator couldn't cope.

I think It was showing 11bar spikes, a Bosch type pump.
 

johnymd

Club Member
You've probably already checked this Ben, but a restriction in the return? so it cant get rid of the pressure even though the regulator is wide open.
 

ben240z

Club Member
You've probably already checked this Ben, but a restriction in the return? so it cant get rid of the pressure even though the regulator is wide open.
Hi Johny, Yes that has been tested and confirmed that there is no restriction.

I woke at 3am Thursday morning thinking about how I had been looking at it and assuming that the fuel pressure reg was failing after running perfectly all these years. I decided to believe that the type of FPR I was using was actually not up to the job from the outset and have now installed another type and it would appear that the issue has now been fixed.

Going to get it remapped over the winter and hopefully then have a fuller season next year.

Appreciate the thought and suggestion. It has baffled lots of people for too long but has resulted in me now having a completely new fuel system, new injectors, new wiring loom and a better understanding on how modern electronics/ecu's work
 
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